


Bottom Of Your Heart

by ImogenSmiley



Series: Reigisa [18]
Category: Free!
Genre: Asking Questions, Brothers, Deep Dark Secrets, Doubt, Established Hazuki Nagisa/Ryuugazaki Rei, Established Relationship, Feelings of Inadequacy, Insecurity, LOTS of Questions, M/M, Middle Child Issues, Middle child syndrome, Potential Invasive Questions, Questions, Self-Doubt, Self-Esteem Issues, Sibling Rivalry, Sibling problems, The Issue With Brothers, The Problem Being The Younger Brother, Writemas, Younger Brother, comparisons, older brother, writemas 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:47:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21833167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImogenSmiley/pseuds/ImogenSmiley
Summary: Nagisa asks a few nagging questions about Rei's older brother, Akira
Relationships: Hazuki Nagisa/Ryuugazaki Rei
Series: Reigisa [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1531475
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Bottom Of Your Heart

Some things had calmed down since Rei had come out, his parents were much more relaxed about the idea of having their son and his boyfriend together in the house, though, they were no longer allowed to shut the door. But, Nagisa was being embraced more, invited to family events which were otherwise Ryugazaki’s only. With Rei being the only one with a serious romantic partner, his siblings spent a while sulking, but Aoi didn’t mind that much.

Akira hadn’t yet warmed to Nagisa-kun. Which hadn’t particularly surprised Rei, but it still hurt that his older brother had no intention of getting to know his boyfriend.

Nagisa-kun had noticed that Akira tended to find excuses to keep himself from interacting with him. He’d done his best to ignore it, but surpressing interest and curiosity was not something that he was particularly good at.

After coming calling at his house before school, Nagisa-kun was faced by Akira, who hadn’t even invited him inside, despite the chill. He, instead shut the door in the magenta-eyed boy’s face and called for Rei, saying his boyfriend was waiting.

Rei had been in the kitchen, finishing his breakfast. He ended up tossing the remnants on Aoi’s plate and shouldering his rucksack, leaving without bidding either of his siblings a farewell.

Nagisa-kun had been outside, his lip trembling, “Rei-chan, Akira didn’t even invite me inside. Have I done something to upset him?”

Rei shook his head, “Akira is Akira. He isn’t the nicest person.”

“That makes no sense, Rei-chan and Aoi-chan are lovely people, how come Akira is so rotten?”

Rei offered his boyfriend a wan smile, taking his hand. They walked together in silence until they reached the end of the street. Rei exhaled audibly, “Rotten isn’t necessarily the word I would use for my brother, Nagisa-kun, but he isn’t particularly kind.”

“What do you mean, Rei-chan? Has he done something to you?”

Rei snorted a laugh, “Many things. We’re siblings. But some wounds do end up cutting deeper than others.”

Nagisa nodded, he had his own fair share of war-wounds from childhood. He had been bullied and tormented by his older sisters when he was younger, being used as a human doll, dressed up in clothes against his will, and made to walk around, and be carted about, as if he were just a piece of plastic. It apparently wounded his sense of self for a very long time.

Rei had never spoken a bad word against his sister, but seldom spoke of his brother at all. In fact, he usually diverted the topic of conversation whenever Akira came up. Nagisa found that strange. Had he behaved the same way with Aoi-chan, he wouldn’t have been concerned, but he never hesitated to gush about how proud he was of his younger sister. She’d been nicknamed “Butterfly Girl” in her middle school because she beat the first year record for girls’ high jump and had beaten every record in high jump at her club. She had learned to pole vault too, but preferred a high jump because it felt like you were flying. Rei-chan spoke of her achievements often.

Rei sighed to himself, “Akira has always been,” he paused, pursing his lips and pushing up his glasses, “Good at absolutely everything.”

“Rei-chan, you’re good at absolutely everything.”

Rei shook his head, “I appreciate your words Nagisa-kun, but I’m actually only studying at Iwatobi High School because Akira was a prodigy at Sano High School. I couldn’t go there. There was too much pressure.”

“Akira? A prodigy? More than Rei-chan?”

“His achievements outshine my imagination, Nagisa-kun.”

Nagisa gazed up at his boyfriend. They’d walked for a while and were approaching the train station, their movements deeply engrained in their muscle memory, to the point they didn’t need to concern themselves with looking at where they were. Their pace was the same as every morning, they would arrive at the train station with eight minutes before their train, get on, sit down in the same seats they always did and go to school. That was how it had been for nearly two years.

“Rei-chan, what was Akira like?”

“In High School? He was really popular, he was the chair of the music club, and played the piano for concerts and shows at the school. Not only that but he was a record holder in the track team for long jump, too. He had the top grades in the year for the three years at High School and managed to get a scholarship to study marine biology at Kappei University in Tokyo.”

“Wow! Akira sure was good at dividing his attention.”

“He was on the student council, and the class representative for three years. He was really popular, had tonnes of friends and girlfriends.”

“Wow, what a player.”

Rei laughed, “Absolutely.”

Nagisa laughed too, they stood together on the platform, fingers entwined as their train to school pulled up.

“But why does Akira treat you like you’re not worth his time? Is it because you’re not doing what he did?”

Rei sighed to himself, boarding the train and taking his seat. Nagisa sat beside him and placed a comforting hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder, “If you don’t want to answer that, you don’t have to. I didn’t mean to be so invasive.”

“Nagisa-kun, you have every right to ask.”

Rei took a deep breath and pushed up his glasses, “Nagisa-kun, Akira doesn’t appreciate the efforts I’ve made at school because they don’t match his in any way. I didn’t join the music club because they seemed really cliquey and I had no interest engaging with people that weren’t going to make me feel included. Then there was the track team, and we both know how that ended up. Not that I have any regrets.”

“I’m glad,” Nagisa laughed, taking hold of Rei’s hand.

“But he did so much, and I’m barely touching on his own achievements.”

“But you two shouldn’t be compared. You’re your own people. That’s like my family comparing me to Namiko, Naomi and Natsumi.”

“I know, Nagisa-kun, but it’s unfortunately ended up that way.”

“That’s so mean, Rei-chan.”

“It’s okay, Nagisa-kun, I’m sure I’ll manage to shine in my own light.”

“I know you will, Rei-chan. I love you.”

“I love you too, Nagisa-kun.”


End file.
